Sunday, June 1, 2008

School







Boy, two weeks ago when I wrote that I was no longer on vacation, I wasn't kidding! School has been incredibly busy. We started off teaching every other day and have continued that through the three weeks. We taught 20 minute sessions to begin with and now have been doing 40 minutes sessions. We will all teach one 60 minute session next week. In addition to preparing our own lessons, following their prescribed format and using their templates, we also sit through our other team members sessions, taking notes on how they are doing certain aspects of the teaching. Every day then we have a feedback session where we receive feedback from the tutor and our fellow students, followed by a lesson planning session, with the assistance of the tutor. When I say "assistance", what that really means at this point is that we tell her what we plan to do, how it ties in with the other 2 people teaching that day, and she says, "ok", or why don't you try this..... As I wrote before, we then have an afternoon of "input" sessions with all of the trainees on different aspects of teaching or grammar or pronunciation, etc.

Starting last week, I have been on an evening shift! Our group doesn't have to report to the school until 11:30 each day, but we stay to teach a lower-intermediate group from 6 - 8:15 pm. As you can imagine, this is a very long day, as we all get to school around 9am to access the computer lab/library while our counterparts are doing their teaching. Our group of students is small, and may be a problem. We are supposed to have no less than 5 students according to the CELTA certification rules. Well, the first night we had 2 students! The second night we 7 students and were quite relieved. But, then on Wednesday we were back down to 5 and on Thursday and Friday we had 3 and then 2. Have to wonder if it is our teaching!!! Just kidding. On Thursday and Friday 2 of the students called to say they wouldn't make it. The 2 who have been there every night is a couple around my age. She is a math teacher at the secondary level and he is a librarian at the Hungarian Historical Library. When there are only 2-3 students, it is quite intensive for them to be "on" for 2+ hours. The way we teach is to follow the same flow: work on your own, compare with a partner, then have open class feedback. I one 40 minute lesson they may do this 3-4 times! So, each night this is 6-8 times -- no "just getting by" when it is a small class!

In addition to our teaching and preparing the lesson plans, we have had three assignments which are papers 750 - 1000 words each and all requiring a significant amount of research and time. So needless to say, this has been very intensive for me and I work until at least 10-10:30 each night and then am up early (5-5:30) to continue working. (Talking and chatting via Skype with friends and family during these times has been a relief from the intensity!) On the first assignment, a few people had them turned back as a "redo". On the second one, most of the class - myself included - had them turned back to redo. And the third was just turned in on Friday, so at this point, I don't know if I have to fix something on it yet. But, it sure feels like downhill from here, although not totally smooth sailing as I have the final assignment, the redo of the second assignment and the two final lessons to plan....and yes, that feels "light"!

Here are a few pictures from the school:


This is one of the Hungarian students, Judi (the J is pronounced as a Y), in our main class room. This classroom is on the side of the building facing one of the main metro/tram stations in Budapest. There is also a Hospital close by. There is the almost constant sounds of sirens from the ambulances and police cars and the sounds from the trams screaching to a stop! (We have all commented that although we hear sirens all the time, we have not really seen any crime or car accidents...)





This the is computer lab and library. We are always jostling for the use of the computers, printers and copiers, but somehow it all works out. This is Angi - Hungarian, Robert - Irish, and Ruary - Scottish busily working on their lessons. Angi and Ruary are in my group.









This is the reception area of the school. We all sit here at this small table at some point during our day and just unwind. This is Mauri from Scotland, and Julie from Chicago. Julie is holding her "Bendy file". In our materials we were told we would receive a bendy file with information and for the life of me I couldn't figure out what this was. As it turns out, it is a soft covered notebook that is flexible - hence "bendy"!!!


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